إمتى ēmta asks “when?” in everyday Lebanese. It requests the time of an event, not its duration: إمتى بيفتح المحل؟ “when does the shop open?”, إمتى وصلت؟ “when did you arrive?”, إمتى رح تخلص؟ “when will you finish?”
The verb still marks habitual, completed, or projected viewpoint. إمتى identifies the missing time; it does not determine the tense by itself and does not trigger English do-support. Its placement follows the broader principles on wh-word position.
Schedules and recurring times
Use the b-imperfect for schedules and repeated events. An answer may name a clock time, day, or recurring interval.
إمتى بيفتح الفرن نهار الأحد؟
ēmta byiftaḥ el-foron nhār el-aḥad?
When does the bakery open on Sunday? (schedule question)
بيفتح عالسبعة ونص.
byiftaḥ ʿas-sabʿa w-noṣṣ.
It opens at seven thirty. (short schedule answer)
عادة إمتى بتاخدوا استراحة بالشغل؟
ʿāde ēmta btākhdo stirāḥa bish-shoghol?
When do you usually take a break at work? (habitual time question)
Past and future event times
The perfect asks when a bounded event happened. رح asks when a projected event will happen. No extra equivalent of English did or will is inserted beyond the ordinary Lebanese construction.
إمتى وصل الباص عطرابلس مبارح؟
ēmta wiṣil el-bāṣ ʿa-Ṭrāblos mbēreḥ?
When did the bus reach Tripoli yesterday? (completed event)
إمتى رح تبعتولنا النتيجة النهائية؟
ēmta raḥ tibʿatūlna n-natīzhe n-nihēyiyye?
When will you send us the final result? (future plural addressee plus recipient clitic)
رح نبعتها بكرا قبل الضهر.
raḥ nibʿata bokra ʾabel eḍ-ḍoher.
We'll send it tomorrow before noon. (direct future answer)
If an arrangement is understood as a current plan, a motion participle is also possible: إمتى رايحين؟ “when are you going?” That asks about the planned departure, not a habit.
إمتى رايحين عالجبل، السبت ولا الأحد؟
ēmta rāyḥīn ʿal-zhabal, es-sabt walla l-aḥad?
When are you going to the mountains, Saturday or Sunday? (current plan)
Position and echo readings
Initial إمتى is neutral. Late إمتى is natural after the event has already been mentioned; strong stress expresses surprise or asks for repair.
إمتى غيرتوا عنوان المكتب؟
ēmta ghayyarto ʿenwēn el-maktab?
When did you change the office address? (neutral initial question)
قلتلي إنكن مسافرين. مسافرين إمتى؟
ʾeltelle innkon msāfrīn. msāfrīn ēmta?
You told me you're traveling. When are you traveling? (contextual late question)
الحفلة إمتى؟ الليلة؟
el-ḥafle ĒMTA? el-lēle?
The party is WHEN—tonight? (incredulous echo)
Fronting every wh-word is unnecessary, but late placement is not automatically surprise; prosody and context decide between an ordinary follow-up and an echo.
من إمتى and لإمتى
من إمتى asks for a starting point, “since when?” لإمتى asks for an endpoint or deadline, “until when?” These prepositions belong before the question word.
من إمتى إنت ساكن بهالبناية؟
min ēmta inte sāken b-hal-binēye?
Since when have you lived in this building? (starting point of a current state)
من أول الصيف، يعني شي تلات شهور.
min awwal eṣ-ṣēf, yaʿne shi tlēt shhūr.
Since the beginning of summer—about three months. (short starting-point answer)
لإمتى رح تضل الطريق مسكرة؟
l-ēmta raḥ tḍall eṭ-ṭarīʾ msakkara?
Until when will the road remain closed? (endpoint question)
Do not strand من or لـ at the end as English often does. These combinations ask a boundary; bare إمتى asks the event’s time.
Embedded time questions
After “know,” “remember,” “ask,” or “tell,” the إمتى clause supplies an unknown time without changing to English indirect-question order.
ما بعرف إمتى بيرجع المدير من السفر.
ma baʿref ēmta byirzhaʿ el-mdīr min es-safar.
I don't know when the manager returns from his trip. (embedded schedule question)
خبرني إمتى بتفضى لنحكي بهدوء.
khabberne ēmta btifḍa l-niḥke b-hodūʾ.
Tell me when you're free so we can talk calmly. (embedded time request)
Service dialogue: an appointment
إمتى أقرب موعد فاضي عند الدكتورة؟
ēmta aʾrab mawʿed fāḍe ʿind ed-doktōra?
Patient: When is the nearest available appointment with the doctor? (service question)
في موعد الخميس عالعشرة الصبح.
fī mawʿed el-khamīs ʿal-ʿashara ṣ-ṣoboḥ.
Receptionist: There's an appointment Thursday at ten in the morning. (availability answer)
وإذا ما قدرت، لإمتى فيني غيره؟
w-iza ma ʾderet, l-ēmta fīne ghayyro?
Patient: And if I can't make it, until when can I change it? (deadline question)
خبرينا قبل الموعد بأربعة وعشرين ساعة.
khabbrīna ʾabel el-mawʿed b-arbaʿa w-ʿishrīn sēʿa.
Receptionist: Let us know twenty-four hours before the appointment. (practical deadline answer)
Formal متى is normal in MSA (formal). Casual urban Lebanese uses إمتى; neighboring varieties may pronounce the opening vowel differently, but the guide keeps one Beirut form.
Common Mistakes
❌ إمتى عملت وصلت عالبيت؟
Incorrect — English did is not translated with an extra عملت.
✅ إمتى وصلت عالبيت بعد الحفلة؟
ēmta wiṣelt ʿal-bēt baʿd el-ḥafle?
When did you get home after the party?
❌ إمتى بتوصل مبارح؟
Incorrect viewpoint for one completed arrival yesterday — use the perfect.
✅ إمتى وصلت مبارح، قبل العشا؟
ēmta wiṣelt mbēreḥ, ʾabel el-ʿasha?
When did you arrive yesterday—before dinner?
❌ إمتى رح بتخلصوا الشغل؟
Incorrect — رح selects the bare imperfect, without b-.
✅ إمتى رح تخلصوا الشغل الجديد؟
ēmta raḥ tkhalliṣo sh-shoghol el-zhdīd?
When will you finish the new work?
❌ إمتى ساكن هون من؟
Incorrect as stranded ‘since’ — the starting-point preposition precedes إمتى.
✅ من إمتى ساكن هون بهالحي؟
min ēmta sāken hūn b-hal-ḥayy?
Since when have you lived here in this neighborhood?
Key Takeaways
Use إمتى to ask an event’s time and choose b-imperfect, perfect, future, or participial grammar from that event. Fronting is neutral; late placement can be a contextual follow-up or an echo. من إمتى asks for a starting point and لإمتى for an endpoint. Keep those prepositions before the question word and reserve formal متى for formal Arabic.
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- Wh-in-Situ and Wh-FrontingB1 — Choose between leaving Lebanese question words in their semantic slot and moving them to the front, with attention to argument type, focus, prepositions, and prosody.
- Echo and Incredulous QuestionsB2 — Repeat all or part of a Lebanese utterance to repair hearing, verify surprising information, or challenge it—with the right word order, focus, and politeness.
- Embedded QuestionsB1 — Embed Lebanese wh- and yes-no questions after know, ask, tell, and wonder expressions without English inversion or unnecessary complementizers.
- من...لـ and Time RangesA2 — Build Lebanese from-to ranges for hours, dates, routes, and abstract transfers while making endpoint inclusion explicit when it matters.
- رح plus Bare ImperfectA1 — Use invariant رح with an agreeing bare imperfect for Lebanese predictions, intentions, plans, and explicit future framing.